Night Elves best represent the early Druidic cultures of western Europe. Highly reclusive, worshippers of nature, but with some very bloody, human sacrifice oriented dark secrets (i.e. the Highborne, albeit not so much human sacrifice). They were also very fond of standing stones. (i.e. Stonehenge). So while Nelf buildings have a lot of oriental stylization, that's probably because nobody actually has any idea what the architecture of the early western-European Druids looked like. It was so long ago that at no point throughout recorded history did any of their houses still stand. By then the primary culture of Druidism had largely been disassembled by the Celts and what would go on to become the Anglo-Saxons (the Angles and the Saxons). Druidism had essentially been reduced to spoken tradition, and some fringe religious practices.

Druidic culture was also a highly sexualized culture in which the female reproductive system was considered very sacred, as reflected by the fact that Nelf culture is a matriarchy.

Meeting the Night Elves in Warcraft canon was essentially like going to Stone Henge, and then wandering off in a nearby forest and actually meeting the people who built it. Because if somebody were to land on the eastern coast of Kalimdor they would first find themselves greeted by a lot of old Highborne ruins. They are ancient pieces of architecture, and yet hint of a level of architectural sophistication that is beyond any known ancient people. And then you press further into Kalimdor you eventually find yourself in Kaldorei territory. They are now scattered, hiding amongst the shadows and those old stone buildings on the east coast are a monument to the very dark and sinister past they have moved away from.

EDIT: The Night Elves were essentially a lost culture. Just like the early druids of Western Europe. We know next to nothing about them. Just as both Horde and Alliance knew nothing about Night Elves when they set sail and landed in Kalimdor initially.

The blood elves are more like the Byzantines, an old nation with a strong culture, riche and clever but arrogant and corrupted. The thalassian architecture look like the byzantine architecture (hagia sophia and hagia irene for exemple). The byzantines was totally sure about their fortification for preserve their empire like thalassian about the sunwell shield. And face to great ennemies, they searched allies: byzantine the knights of the western europe against turkish armies and thalassian the humans against troll armies.

Night Elves best represent the early Druidic cultures of western Europe. Highly reclusive, worshippers of nature, but with some very bloody, human sacrifice oriented dark secrets (i.e. the Highborne, albeit not so much human sacrifice). They were also very fond of standing stones. (i.e. Stonehenge). So while Nelf buildings have a lot of oriental stylization, that's probably because nobody actually has any idea what the architecture of the early western-European Druids looked like. It was so long ago that at no point throughout recorded history did any of their houses still stand. By then the primary culture of Druidism had largely been disassembled by the Celts and what would go on to become the Anglo-Saxons (the Angles and the Saxons). Druidism had essentially been reduced to spoken tradition, and some fringe religious practices.

Druidic culture was also a highly sexualized culture in which the female reproductive system was considered very sacred, as reflected by the fact that Nelf culture is a matriarchy.

Meeting the Night Elves in Warcraft canon was essentially like going to Stone Henge, and then wandering off in a nearby forest and actually meeting the people who built it. Because if somebody were to land on the eastern coast of Kalimdor they would first find themselves greeted by a lot of old Highborne ruins. They are ancient pieces of architecture, and yet hint of a level of architectural sophistication that is beyond any known ancient people. And then you press further into Kalimdor you eventually find yourself in Kaldorei territory. They are now scattered, hiding amongst the shadows and those old stone buildings on the east coast are a monument to the very dark and sinister past they have moved away from.

EDIT: The Night Elves were essentially a lost culture. Just like the early druids of Western Europe. We know next to nothing about them. Just as both Horde and Alliance knew nothing about Night Elves when they set sail and landed in Kalimdor initially.

Draenei have a bunch of different stuff. Some of their names and language sounds Greek. There accents are vaguely slavic, in an exaggerated sense, I know plenty of Russians/Ukrainians and they don't really sound like draenei. Their culture has influences from several different cultures including Turkish, Greek, and Indian. So, they don't really fit into a single RL group.

I think Orcs more closely resemble Germanic barbarians(Vandals/Goths) or perhaps the Huns or Mongols than any African tribe or culture

I've always thought the same, I don't see large-scail raiding, plundering and conquest as an African tribe thing. Orcs get also closer to Germanic, and especially Vikings, with evaluating the stronger way above the weak and acting accordingly.

I've always thought the same, I don't see large-scail raiding, plundering and conquest as an African tribe thing. Orcs get also closer to Germanic, and especially Vikings, with evaluating the stronger way above the weak and acting accordingly.

I think one of the reasons people make the Zulu (or more generic african) connection with Orcs has to do with the orcs being enslaved by the legion, taken from their homeworld, hated on their new world, eventually being freed from their slavery, and still being considered sub-human by the larger, more established population (most of which have a European feel). Thrall being essentially Dr. King (although a bit more willing to press the Orc agenda with physicality if necessary, still seeking to avoid violence and encouraging orcs to not perpetrate the stereotypes of barbarity) and Garrosh being either Huey Long or Malcolm (neither stayed in power as long as Gary did, so it's hard to guess which figure he was more based on).

I don't get why Orcs are considered to be African-inspired. Sure, they were enslaved, but it was the orcs who started the war, not humans.

To me, orcs have always seemed to be vaguely Eurasian, Mongolian/Turkic (nomads turned conquerors turned civilised) with a smidge of Russian (many Orc names, from Grom to Draka to Durak, are taken from Slavic languages) as well as Japanese culture.

On the other hand, however, the orcs also seem very similar to the British Empire's colonists if you think about it, especially Americans - considering their two vaguely Native American allies/subservient races, the trolls and the tauren, their culture which has an emphasis on freedom while also being extremely militant, and their growth from a band of refugees to one of the most powerful empires of the world. You could also compare them to Australians: descendants of former criminals living in a harsh, unhospitable land that are also quite badass.